City airport reopens after World War II bomb removal

WWII bomb removed from the river at nearby King George V Dock

London City Airport reopened on Tuesday morning following the removal of an unexploded Second World War bomb that was found in the River Thames close by over the weekend.

All of Monday's scheduled arrivals and departures were cancelled as the emergency services dealt with the issue.

Late Monday night, Robert Sinclair, chief executive of the airport, tweeted: "The World War Two ordnance discovered in King George V Dock has been safely removed by the Royal Navy and Met Police. As a result, the exclusion zone has now been lifted and the airport will be open as normal on Tuesday."

Sinclair thanked the navy, police and the London Borough of Newham for "bringing this incident to a safe conclusion". He also thanked local residents, who had to be evacuated, passengers, who had their travel plans disrupted, and commuters hit by the closure of the Docklands Light Railway, for their understanding.

In a message sent from its official Twitter account on Sunday evening, the airport had confirmed the discovery of a World War Two bomb in the river at King George V Dock. A 214 metre exclusion zone was set up while the Royal Navy worked on removing the device.

The airport is now fully operational and passengers have been advised not to arrive more than two hours before their scheduled travel time.

City Airport is located in London's Docklands close to the financial heartland of Canary Wharf. More than four-and-a-half million passengers used the airport in 2016, according to figures from the UK Civil Aviation Authority.